Tourist Dies By Punch From Alleged Uber Driver

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A Florida man who was visiting New York to attend the wedding of one of his relatives died after receiving a punch from a stranger who he mistaken for an Uber driver.

The incident occurred around 1:00 a.m. this Sunday when Sandro Szabo, 35, of Boca Raton, left a hotel in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens County to board a taxi.

While waiting, a white SUV approached and stopped. Believing that it was the car that Szabo had requested, he knocked on the car window. Then the driver got out to give him an unexpected and sudden punch in the face. The subject hit him with such force that the boy fell to the pavement and hit his head, according to a police report.

A 17-year-old woman - whose identity was not revealed - told the local chain WPIX that she was passing by and that she helped the driver of the car to lift the victim to recharge him in another vehicle.

"Me and the man lifted him up and supported him in a car so that he would not choke on his blood until the ambulance arrived," said the minor.

However, before the paramedics arrived, the driver fled.

Szabo was transferred in critical condition to a local hospital where he died.

The victim worked as vice president of sales for the company What If Media Group, which through networks issued a message to express the pain of the employees.

“We will always remember him with a huge smile, a positive attitude, passion for our company (and for each one of us), his love for fish, fishing and cooking and his love for his family. He is a beautiful spirit and his love for life will always remain with us. We will miss him deeply,”he said in the message posted on Facebook this Wednesday.

Police are now analyzing a video that captured the driver and his car, who is described as dark-skinned and with a completely bald head.

If you have any leads regarding this incident, please call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477); 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), in Spanish or at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.